Senior Hurling Championship 2015

May 2: Faythe Harriers 1-9, Ferns St Aidans 0-11Faythe Harriers sprang something of a mild surprise at rain-soaked Oylegate in the first round of the Pettitt’s Senior Hurling Championship on Saturday, holding off the challenge of Ferns St. Aidans by just one point, and thus condemning the men in red and white to their first defeat in the group stage of the championship since 2012.A goal from full forward Rhys Clarke on 25 minutes was the key score in a monsoon match where the green and white flags were never going to be in danger of being worn out from over-use. It came after an initial effort from Colm Heffernan was half blocked down, only for Clarke to gather on the 13-metre line, turn his man, and somehow squeeze the ball home from a narrow angle.It must unfortunately be said however that an equally important factor in the outcome of this game was the performance of referee, Brian O’Leary. He puzzled players, mentors and spectators throughout with his interpretation of the overcarrying rule when attacking players were being held up, with several decisions that were expected to go to the attacking side being given the other way instead.While these evened themselves out in most regards, one man who was particularly hard done by was Ferns corner-forward, ‘Bitsy’ O’Connor. Five times he got to the ball first and attempted to turn his man, only to end up in the classic 50-50 ‘is he overcarrying or is he being held?’ situation – but 100 per cent of those 50-50 calls went against him.Even late on in the game, when he did break clear and send the ball over the bar for what seemed like a crucial point, the score was disallowed as he was called back for an alleged overcarrying offence that took many – including representatives of the town team – by surprise. If even two of those six decisions had gone the other way, the outcome of this game could have been very different.Still, the Harriers worked hard for their victory, which was built on stout defence that had to overcome the loss of Richie Kehoe through injury after only three minutes. With Clarke being their main scorer from placed balls, and Ferns really only being able to reply through Ian Byrne frees, they led throughout until three from play in a row for Ferns brought things level at 1-8 to 0-11 with six minutes to go.Clarke put the Harriers back in front with a close-in free on 56 minutes, and Ferns missed out twice on opportunities to level again – once when that O’Connor effort was disallowed, and once when Ian Byrne opted to go short with a free from midfield, only to see Jonny Dwyer’s subsequent shot go narrowly wide.The victory will give Harriers some confidence as they now prepare to face Oulart/The Ballagh in Round 2, while for Ferns, improvement will be needed for a crucial tie against Buffers Alley.

May 9: Ferns St Aidans 1-20, Buffers Alley 3-14If only every Pettitt’s Senior Hurling Championship game could be as entertaining as this one.Ferns St Aidans were mere minutes away from bouncing back from a first round loss to Faythe Harriers with a morale-boosting Group B win in Bellefield on Saturday, but substitute Kevin ‘Shelly’ Roche saved the day for Buffers Alley as his solo goal 21 seconds into added time ultimately forced a draw.It was definitely a case of a point gained for the Alley and a point lost for Ferns, but it was a heart-warming contest for neutrals, given the urgency and commitment displayed by both sides.The Buffers Alley forwards had run riot seven days earlier against the Shamrocks, and it left one wondering were they really that sharp and would they fare as well against stronger opponents?Well, they answered that in affirmative in the first half as they surged into a 2-10 to 0-10 lead, hitting just three wides in the process. It was left to Ian Byrne’ sharp-shooting to keep Ferns in touch, as he picked off eight points from his marvellous 1-14 tally overall, with six of those first half scores coming from frees.The sides were deadlocked four times in total in a first quarter that ended at 0-6 each, but the Alley added three more points from Keith Burke (free) and Andrew Kenny (both free and play) before chalking up the first wide.Ian Byrne pulled the gap back to 0-9 to 0-7 before in-form Alley forward Tomás O’Leary – the scorer of 1-6 against the Shamrocks – latched onto the rebound when Burke’s first effort was saved, to find the net in the 23rd minute.If the Ferns defending was a little lax for that score, it was even worse just under six minutes later when Paul O’Leary found his namesake Tomás unmarked inside the cover with a handpass, and the number 15 easily doubled his goal tally to make it 2-9 to 0-9.Ferns, who had James Tonks restored to the heart of their defence and Paul Morris looking ginger enough with a knee injury, had serious ground to make up. However, they were right back in contention within seven minutes as Ian Byrne punished the Alley on two more occasions for their persistent fouling (19-10 was the eventual free count) before also grabbing an opportunist goal.Referee Gearóid McGrath, making his senior debut here after relocating from Dublin, threw in the sliothar in the left corner and it evaded the first pair before Byrne latched onto it and broke through to narrow the gap to a minimum (2-10 to 1-12).An inspiring placed ball from Byrne from inside his own half gave Ferns the lead in the 44th minute, with the quality of the play highlighted then by two super points in quick succession at either end from Andrew Kenny and Jonny Dwyer.Keith Burke brought the Alley level from a free before Ferns hit for home with points from Christopher O’Connor, another Byrne placed ball, and Tommy Dywer (1-19 to 2-13).Goalscorer Tomás O’Leary then got his marching orders after a second yellow card and Declan Byrne took up the role of spare man in the Ferns defence. The red and whites looked to have just about enough done to win the game as they led by three points entering added time after an exchange of frees between Andrew Kenny and Ian Byrne.However, Kevin Roche had other ideas as he latched onto a favourable break some 50 metres out on the left flank and soloed through without being challenged. He was upended eventually all right, but only after already planting the ball in the net for a dramatic equaliser.There was one late scare for the Alley when Darren O’Brien fumbled a Niall Maguire delivery before the ball was scrambled to safety, but they were definitely the happier of the two camps when this high-octane encounter finally drew to a close.

May 23: Shelmaliers 2-14, Ferns St Aidans 0-15Goals from Ciarán O’Shaughnessy and Brian Malone were the difference in Bellefield on Saturday as Shelmaliers moved within a victory of a place in the quarter-finals of the Pettitt’s Senior Hurling Championship.The Over the Water boys have bounced back superbly from their opening game defeat to Oulart/The Ballagh and will up to wrap up qualification against Faythe Harriers the next time out.For Ferns, things are starting to look grim. With the main attacking duo of Paul Morris and Ian Byrne struggling to be at anything like full fitness, and the influential Benny Jordan out altogether, they just lacked that cutting edge that they have become renowned for in recent years.That said, things could have been so different had they not been denied a blatant penalty six minutes into the second half, with the score at 1-9 to 0-9. It was undoubtedly the most important passage of play in the game as Tommy Dwyer bore down on goal but was mauled, from around the midriff, to the ground.Referee Justin Heffernan waved away justifiably furious appeals and Shelmaliers immediately went up the other end, pointed through Joe Kelly, and quickly added another brace to turn a potentially tied game into a six-point lead for the county champions in the blink of an eye.It would be folly to claim however that the victors weren’t the better side. They took the lead in the second minute when Brian Doyle pointed and their opponents were only on level terms once more when Ian Byrne scored his third point to make it 0-3 apiece after ten minutes.Kelly had three points on the board himself when James Cash and Eoghan Nolan combined on the left and fired the ball into the goalmouth, where Ciarán O’Shaughnessy was on hand to flick home the breaking ball.The lead stood at three at half-time (1-8 to 0-8), and six after the mini-burst that followed the non-penalty.When Brian Malone shot to the net from his knees after being picked out by O’Shaughnessy to make the lead nine with 14 minutes remaining, the game was all but up for Ferns.They continued to chip away, but failed to find the goal they badly needed.While the equation is now pretty easy for Shelmaliers, Ferns are in danger of missing out on a spot in the last eight. With games against Shamrocks and Oulart/The Ballagh to come, they will need at least one high-scoring victory, and possibly even more to keep their hopes alive.

August 14: Ferns St Aidans 0-15, Shamrocks 1-11Faltering Ferns St Aidans picked up their first win of this year’s Pettit’s Senior Hurling Championship campaign by beating Shamrocks in Bunclody on Friday evening, but really, this was a hollow victory.Poor form earlier in the year meant that the beaten finalists of 2013 – and the favourites for last year’s crown heading into the semi-final stages – had only one point from their opening three games. Their hopes of progressing needed to be kick-started by putting up a big score against a Shamrocks side that had lost each of their opening three by an average of 16 points, but from early on, it was obvious that this was never going to be that sort of performance.Indeed, it was still deadlocked after 25 minutes, as the sides were on 0-5 each – with most of those scores having come from frees in what really was a poor game of hurling. Ferns did give themselves something of a cushion then with two Ian Byrne frees and a fine point by Christopher ‘Bitzy’ O’Connor from the left touchline. That work was almost undone in first half injury time though, as Shamrocks full forward Maurice Casey was put through on goal, only for him to somehow roll the ball wide when it seemed easier to score.Play in the second half didn’t get much better. Ferns still had the better of the scoreboard and had extended their lead to 0-14 to 0-9 by the three-quarter hour mark, with the best two of those points coming from Paddy Moroney, their Galway native new recruit this year.Scores dried up for a while then until Bob Jacob pointed a free for Shamrocks on 53 minutes, and Harry Goff followed up with another score within 60 seconds to leave a goal between the sides (0-14 to 0-11).Tommy Dwyer – who had taken over free-taking duties after Ian Byrne retired injured – converted what was to prove a crucial placed ball for Ferns on 59 minutes to give them their first score in 15 minutes and extend their lead to four. Shamrocks then came up the field in the first minute of injury time and an attack that saw the ball bobble here, there and everywhere eventually ended in a goal when Anthony Wallace tapped it to the net, and suddenly a real shock result was potentially on the cards.Shamrocks never created another scoring chance in four further minutes of injury time that followed however, and Ferns just about held on for the slenderest of victories.While they now sit on three points in the table and mathematically still have a chance of going through, the reality of the matter is that they have to get some sort of result against Oulart/The Ballagh in their closing game to have any hope – and even beating them might not be enough, depending on other results.Fifth spot seems the most likely finishing position now for a Ferns side who will be dreadfully disappointed with their year.

August 30: Oulart/The Ballagh 6-26, Ferns St Aidans 1-16For the first ten minutes in Bellefield on Sunday evening, it looked like Ferns St. Aidans might – just might – put it up to Oulart/The Ballagh and give themselves a chance of getting the result they needed if they were to progress in the Pettit’s Senior Hurling Championship.Ten minutes after that though, all such hopes had been dashed, and the only question that remained was just how much the eventual margin of victory would be.It turned out to be a massive 25 points – the worst beating that Ferns have endured for several years and one that could have been even larger but for how Oulart/The Ballagh put wide a number of relatively easy charges in the second half.It had been all square at 0-5 each after those first ten minutes, with the highlight being two sharp points within sixty seconds of each other by Ferns corner forward ‘Bitzy’ O’Connor, but then Oulart/The Ballagh – and in particular, Garret Sinnott – really put their stamp on the game.First, a long ball in from Darren Nolan on 12 minutes was collected by Sinnott at the edge of the square. He played a pass back to Nicky Kirwan, who had a relatively simple task of shooting the game’s first goal.A minute later, there was a carbon copy of that first goal – Sinnott again doing well to collect a long ball, and acting as provider for Kirwan.And three minutes after that, Sinnott took the goal himself after grabbing yet another long ball played in to his full-forward position, so it was now 3-6 to 0-6 after the sides had swapped a point each between the second and third goals.Des Mythen, Rory Jacob, and Nicky Kirwan (free) followed up with points, so while the game had been level after ten minutes, there was now a massive twelve points in it (3-9 to 0-6) after twenty.And worse was to come for Ferns, as they conceded a fourth goal on 23 minutes, with Sinnott again doing the damage as he struck his second of the day.There followed a succession of points for Oulart/The Ballagh so rapid that the scoreboard couldn’t keep up – it showed 4-15 to 0-9 at half-time, instead of the correct score of 4-16 to 0-9 – not that the extra point was likely to matter for anything other than keeping the statistics correct.Ferns had the first couple of scores of the second half, including a goal from an Ian Byrne free, but it was soon back to more of the same.Oulart/The Ballagh had their fifth goal on 41 minutes as Garret Sinnott completed his hat-trick, and Rory Jacob added another two minutes later, to make it 6-19 to 1-14.They added seven further points to just two for Ferns in the closing quarter, to confirm top spot in the group in the most comfortable manner possible, and condemn Ferns to fifth place and an early championship exit in what was has been a dreadfully disappointing campaign for them.